s219
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,608
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
Thanks S219. The door rails go up two feet above the top of the door opening, so the bottom door panel is still almost vertical and the next panel is at a 45 degree angle and the other 4 panels are on the flat section.
I went out with a pipe wrench and turned the shaft by hand, and the door came down without loosening the cables. I never would have guessed. I may end up raising the rail ends so the horizontal track is not perfectly level. Thanks for your help!
I'm ordering the 8500 openers after Christmas.
Sounds like everything is OK as-is and you probably don't need to mess with the rails (in fact, usually the door roller brackets are such that the door will still have an incline even if the track is horizontal). As long as some portion of the door is either hanging vertical or at a 45 in the corner, there is plenty of weight to pull down on the cables and keep them under tension. They should never un-spool as long as that is the case.
Years ago with another brand of jackshaft opener (Wayne Dalton "iDrive", since taken off the market because it was junk) I had some boxes block the downward travel of the door and the cable spooled off the drums. It was a trainwreck and dangerous situation to resolve, since the door got crooked in the track and then the rollers started falling out. It's a miracle I didn't get hurt or damage the two cars parked in the garage.
The Chamberlain 8500 openers have a slack sensor -- basically a spring loaded limit switch with a roller that rides on the cable. If for any reason the cable goes partially slack, it will trigger that switch and promptly stop the motor before it goes fully slack. So in the unlikely event that the door stops moving due to an obstruction, the cable won't unspool and you won't encounter the dangerous situation I ran into. Combined I have been running an 8500 (or predecessor) opener for about 20 years and they have been super reliable. I really like the whole principle of how they operate. I'll probably be adding one to my workshop, since I now have an antique car parked in there and use the door a lot more than before.